2009 Late Summer & Fall
Editor 2009 Oflag 64 Reunion Elodie Caldwell
2731 Terry Avenue Ft. Collins CO
Longview WA 98632-4437 September 17- September 20 [email protected] Dear Oflag 64 Family, Printing and Mailing Kathy Ezell Time is fast approaching for our annual Oflag 64 Reunion in Ft. Collins CO and we hope you’ll be able to attend. If you’re planning to 428 Bargello Avenue come but haven’t yet registered, it’s not too late, but please send in Coral Gables, FL 33146-2802 your registration form and registration payment as soon as possible. [email protected] A reunion registration form and hotel reservation information are
included on page 3 of this ITEM. Treasurer Bret Job URGENT: Please make your Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Collins 4240 Trail Ridge Ln reservations as soon as possible by calling 1-970-225-2900 or by Minnetonka MN 55345-2254 visiting the Oflag 64 personalized site, which the Hilton Garden Inn [email protected] has created for us. (Their web address is located at the bottom of page 3 in this ITEM.) The group reservation deadline is August 2009 Reunion Host 15. Reservations can be made until then or until the group block Julie Gionfriddo is sold out. 15317 Red Canyon Ranch Dr Loveland CO 80538-9184 There are two relatively economical shuttles from the Denver airport [email protected] to Ft. Collins and back. Reservations are advised by not required. #1 The Super Shuttle 1-800-258-3826. The cost is $32 per person Contributors to the ITEM one way or $96 for 3 people. Reservations can be made online at: Cindy Burgess www.supershuttle.com #2 The Green Ride Colorado 1-888-472-6656. Cost is $30 per Robert Galloway person one way or $80 for 3 people. (As the number of riders Marcia Kanners increase, the price per person goes down), Reservations can be Anne Kreutzer made online at: www.greenrideco.com Herm Littman Dale Nitz Looking forward to seeing you soon. Ted Rinehart Best Regards,
Elodie Caldwell (daughter of Reid Ellsworth)
1 A LITTLE COMPANY BUSINESS
2009 OFLAG 64 REUNION - FORT COLLINS, CO Thursday, September 17 – Sunday, September 20
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, September 17
12:00 – 5:00 Check in, Hospitality Room open all evening
Friday, September 18
7:30 – 8:30 Breakfast Buffet** (on your own)
8:45 – 11:30 Business meeting (also guest speaker Diane Tauser, composer of the musical “I’ll Be Seeing You”, WWII love story of Kriegy Don Waful & Cassie)
11:30 Lunch
1:00 -5:00 City of Fort Collins and Budweiser tour, shopping in Old Town
5:30 Dinner on your own and free time
Saturday, September 19
7:00 – 8:00 Breakfast Buffet** (on your own - special guest coming)
8:00 – 2:30 Optional Bus tour of Rocky Mountain National Park (includes lunch)
2:30 – 6:00 Free Time
6:00 Drinks and social hour
7:00 – whenever Banquet and entertainment (Dr. Sutherland)
Sunday, September 20
8:00 Breakfast (provided)
9:00 Memorial Service and good-byes
The hospitality room will be open every day for those wishing to visit.
** Note: The hotel has a wonderful breakfast buffet in the restaurant daily. It is the same buffet that we would have if we paid for it as a group but is $2.00 apiece cheaper if we get it individually. Thus, I elected to do it this way except on Sunday. Julie
2 2009 OFLAG 64 REUNION - FORT COLLINS, CO Thursday, September 17 – Sunday, September 20
REGISTRATION FORM
REGISTRATION FEE: $150 per person - This includes: Sunday breakfast, the banquet, snacks, the photographer, the meeting rooms, a continuous Hospitality Room stocked with beverages & other goodies, and the tour of the town.
If you or your guest(s) plan to attend the BANQUET ONLY ($30 per person), please check the box next to your banquet choice.
Banquet Choices (select one): (1) Steak (2) Chicken Breast (3) Vegetarian (good!)
Registrant: Kriegy Relationship Banquet Choice Address: Phone #: Cell #: Email: Guest: Kriegy Relationship: Banquet Choice Guest: Kriegy Relationship: Banquet Choice Guest: Kriegy Relationship: Banquet Choice Guest: Kriegy Relationship: Banquet Choice Guest: Kriegy Relationship: Banquet Choice Guest: Kriegy Relationship: Banquet Choice
Are special hotel/transportation accommodations needed? Yes No
If yes, please specify
Optional Rocky Mountain National Park Trip = $57 per person and includes: deluxe motor coach & driver, tour guide for the day, admission to RMNP and lunch. Gratuities for the guide and driver = $1 per person for each. Tour fee payable at the reunion. **How many people in your group are expecting to take this tour?
Please mail your completed registration form and check to: Julie Gionfriddo 15317 Red Canyon Ranch Dr Loveland CO 80538-9184 Email: [email protected]
HOTEL RESERVATION INFORMATION Please make your Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Collins reservations by calling 1-970-225-2900 or by visiting their website at: http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/groups/personalized/FNLFCGI-OFR-20090917/index.jhtml The group reservation is under “Oflag 64” at the rate of $93+tax per night and applies 3 days prior to and 3 days following the reunion. The group reservation deadline is August 15. 3 LTC JOHN A. ALBREE from Columbus NC story of Don and Cassie Waful) noticed that the (friend of Oflag 64) sent a donation to the link in the last ITEM to the production site was Postage Fund in honor and memory of General broken and unable to be viewed. He sent the John K. Waters, with whom he served. Thanks following alternate link. so much, John, for your thoughtful contribution http://www.illbeseeingyou.org to the Postage Fund. Our Oflag 64 family is Thanks, Michael, for sending the new link. We’re certainly blessed to have such wonderful happy that Don and Cassie were able to share a support. Please keep in touch. portion of their lives with us through your site. What a great site and a great story. Please JIM BATES from Brentwood TN recently sent write again. a donation to the Postage Fund and a short note about the ITEM. Thanks so much, Jim, for your BILL CORY from Louisville KY thoughtful contribution. We greatly appreciate sent a note recently expressing all our contributors. Thanks also for your kind disappointment that the Oflag 64 words about the ITEM. Best Wishes to you. MIS-X story was not included in Hope to hear from you again. the National Geographic Documentary aired early in ABE AND EILEEN BAUM from August. He mentioned his communications right San Diego CA recently emailed a after the war with Lloyd Shoemaker, author of complimentary note along with THE ESCAPE FACTORY, regarding MIS-X. information that Abe’s story and Thanks, Bill, for writing. We agree, it was a that of the POWs (one part of a huge disappointment to learn that “our story” series of episodes on “Patton 360”) would not be included. From emails we’ve was aired on the History Channel on June 28. received, however, it appears that National Thanks, Abe and Eileen, for sharing this Geographic felt there wasn’t enough evidence information. Hopefully many of our Oflag 64 specific to Oflag 64 to include. We appreciate family were able to enjoy it. (As a side note, we the work Nils did in making available to National noticed that Patton’s biographer, Kevin Hymel, Geographic all that was available. Much work was the same Kevin Hymel who attended the was involved. Please write again. Washington D.C. reunion and presented Freedom Team Salute awards to each Kriegy in DAVID CRIDER from Birmingham AL (nephew attendance.) We hope to see you both at a of the late Woodrow Hubka) recently sent some future reunion. Please write again. helpful information regarding the spelling of a German term and resulting translation on one of ELEANOR BERTRAND from our website photo gallery pages. We appreciate Baton Rouge LA (Military updates on anything that is in error. Thanks, Historical Tours staff and friend of David, for sending the correction. We appreciate Oflag 64) has been sending lots of the extra eyes that keep us on track and agree information. Among them, she with you that the correction makes much more recently sent a web link to the sense. Please keep in touch. Department of Defense Wounded Warrior Diaries. Thank you very much, Ellie, for ELLSWORTH CUNDIFF, JR. from St. Charles all the information you’ve sent. We have added MO (son of the late Ellsworth Cundiff Sr.) found this link to the LINKS page on our website under our website not long ago and recently wrote: “Related Web Sites”. Please keep us posted on “Dad (Ellsworth Cundiff) died on January 28th of future “Americans in Enemy Hands” tours. 1997 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery. Dad stayed in the army after the war and retired as a MICHAEL CARLYLE (original musical producer Lt Colonel then went on to get his PHD. and of “I’ll Be Seeing You”, the real-life WWII love retired again in Athens, Georgia where he had 4 been a professor at the University of Georgia. compliments and a short note saying: “This is Dad contacted malaria in North Africa and at the one reunion I am really sorry I will have to miss, time of the forced march was in the hospital at because I graduated from Colorado State Oflag 64. As a result I have his POW diary and University in Ft. Collins in 1942.” Thanks, Bill, almost all of the issues of the Item in like new for your thoughtful contribution to the Postage condition.” Thanks so much, Ellsworth, for Fund and for your kind words. We’re sorry that writing and sharing information about your dad. you won’t be able to make the reunion in Ft. We hope you’ll be able to attend a future reunion Collins but also realize that sometimes it’s just and perhaps bring your dad’s diary with you. not possible. Please let us hear from you from Great pieces of history are shared at our time to time. reunions as we sit and visit with Kriegies and their families each year. Those like-new ITEMs ORETTA HAMBLIN from Lawton OK (widow of will be a great addition to our website as well. the late Charles O. B. Hamblin) recently sent a Hope to hear from you again soon. donation to the Postage Fund along with a complimentary note. She also said that she STEVEN FISHER (son of the late Leo W. would not be able to attend the reunion due to Fisher) recently sent the following email: “I health reasons. Thank you, Oretta, for writing cannot express to you how much the work you and for your thoughtful contribution to the are doing has meant to me. My father was Lt. Postage Fund. It is so much appreciated. Leo W. Fisher, the author of the article attached Thank also for your kind words. We send you to your most recent email. My father died as a best wishes in all you do. Please write again. young man while I was finishing my senior year of college. We talked so little of the war and his VICTORIA L. HERRING from Des being a POW. I had never seen the article that Moines IA (daughter of the late he wrote about his experiences as a POW. As I Clyde E. Herring) recently sent read his words I could hear his voice reading it scanned copies of WWII photos to me. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to and memorabilia that belonged to hear his words, expressions and thoughts as if her dad. In an email she also he were telling me the story himself. I haven't mentioned that she would be traveling to Szubin cried in years but I could not read his words this summer. Thanks, Victoria, for sharing some without remembering again how much I have of your dad’s memorabilia. We’ll be uploading missed him. Thank you so much!!! You have much of it to our website soon. We look forward made my day!!! If my Dad were alive, I am sure to hearing about your trip to Szubin. he would love to be writing again for the Item!!!” Thank you very much, Steven, for sharing your MARTHA CURTIS HOOVER (daughter of the thoughts. We’re so happy when family late Warren T. Curtis) recently found our website “connections” are made and are pleased that and is interested in finding anyone who knew you felt that connection to your dad through his her dad, Warren T. Curtis, who was an Oflag 64 articles. Please write again. Kriegy. (If you have information to share, please contact Elodie Caldwell using the contact MICHAEL and THOMAS GIBSON (sons of the information on the front page of this ITEM. late Harold L. Gibson) recently found our Information will then be forwarded to Martha.) website and asked to be added to our email list. Thanks, Martha, for contacting us. We have a Although their dad, another Oflag 64 Kriegy, is wonderful Oflag 64 family; always helpful and deceased their mom has kept his memorabilia in willing to share what information they may have. a scrapbook. Thanks, Michael and Thomas, for We hope you are able to find the information you contacting us and for sharing your dad’s death seek. Please keep in touch. date and your mom’s address. We have added your dad to the TAPS list on line and will be MARY SHULAR HOPPER from Conway SC sending your mom future ITEMs. We hope (daughter of William Shular) sent word that her you’ll stay in touch. youngest son passed away in April. He and another of her sons, who also passed away WILLIAM R. “BILL” GRAY from Sparta NJ several years ago, were both Marines and were sent a donation to the Postage Fund along with very proud of the heritage given to them by their 5 grandfather. Mary is appreciative of thoughts GEORGE JUSKALIAN from and prayers offered on behalf of the family. Centreville VA sent a donation to Mary, we appreciate the information about your the Postage Fund along with a sons but are saddened to hear of their passing. complimentary note about the We extend our heartfelt condolences and ITEM. As you may remember sincere sympathies to you and the family. We from the last ITEM, George and know this is a difficult time and that Christopher Bill Sharpe were recently involved with a WWII will be truly missed. May wonderful memories Oral History Day at a middle school in Virginia. and the support of others sustain you as you Thanks, George, for your thoughtful and grieve. Please let us hear from you again. generous contribution to the Postage Fund. We are very grateful for such wonderful support of DENNIS JOHNSON from Lexington KY (son of the ITEM. We hope all is well with you and that the late Errol P. Johnson) sent word that his you enjoy more History Days in the future. father passed away on July 2, 2009. (See the Please let us know how you are doing from time TAPS Section for the obituary.) No matter how to time. much we prepare, it’s always difficult to lose a loved one. Another great hero and Kriegy will be MARCIA KANNERS from missed. We send sincere sympathies and Beverly Hills MI (widow of the heartfelt condolences to you and your family. late Victor Kanners) recently sent Remembering those good times always help in a contribution to the Postage Fund the grieving process. Let us know how you’re and also sad news of the death of doing from time to time. her son, Dave. Although very energetic and up for many physical challenges, LTC HERBERT A. JOHNSON from Dave lost his battle with cancer in March. With Mechanicsburg PA sent a donation to the Marcia’s letter were two newspaper articles Postage Fund along with a nice letter and a describing Dave and his adventures. She said: copy of two separate writings by George “Reading over that article about Dave made me Juskalian. One was a brief history letter and the realize that he had all the attributes needed to other was about their first year of survival in make a good Kriegy. Like Father, Like Son”. In Oflag 64. Interestingly, their celebration of one her letter Marcia also mentioned her own health year of imprisonment occurred on the same day challenges, particularly with arthritis pain, and is as D-Day, which befuddled their German probably looking at surgery in the not-too-distant captors. Thanks, Herbert, for your thoughtful future. Thanks, Marcia, for your thoughtful and and generous contribution to the Postage Fund. generous contribution to the Postage Fund and Much appreciated. Thanks also for sending a also for updating us on your son. We send copy of George’s one-year anniversary article. It sincere sympathies and heartfelt condolences to can be found on our website, www.oflag64.org, you and your family as you make adjustments. under Archives/POW Stories/Capture and Camp We know he will be greatly missed. We Life. Our best to you. Please write again. apologize for not including the articles in this ITEM. The were not available on line and we CURTIS JONES from Vineyard weren’t able to do a good quality scan and have Haven MA sent a donation to the them still fit on the page. We hope folks will be Postage Fund along with a short able to view them by other means (Lansing note saying: “Unfortunately I will State Journal, 6/2/09 or Detroit Free Press, be unable to attend the reunion 4/20/09). Best Wishes to you. Please keep us this year. I am unable to travel posted on your surgery. Hope to see you soon. any distance although my health is ok. I will miss the camaraderie.” Thanks so much, Curtis, ANNE KREUTZER from for your thoughtful and generous contribution to Woodbridge VA (daughter of the the Postage Fund. Always appreciated. We will late Nathaniel Hoskot) sent a certainly miss you and Norma at the reunion this donation to the Postage Fund year but hope to see you again in the future. along with photos and information Best wishes to you both. Please keep in touch. about her dad. She also sent a photo of Nick Rahal’s funeral procession at 6 Arlington National Cemetery. (See the Ft. Collins and will miss seeing your sweet Lucy Information Station and TAPS sections of by your side. Please write again soon. this ITEM.) Thanks so much, Anne, for your generous and thoughtful contribution to the CHRIS MCCAIN from Brenham TX (grandson- Postage Fund. Thanks also for the amazing in-law of Charlie Buerger) recently found our photos and information you sent. Looking website and asked about adding Charlie’s forward to seeing you at the Reunion in information to our website. He shared: “When September. Please keep in touch. I found out about Charlie being a WWII POW, I just needed to know more, not only for me but ROBERT E. LEVIN from Southern my wife’s family too. Charlie would never open Pines NC sent a donation to the up to them and talk about his experiences in Postage Fund along with a short WWII. So, during the 4-hour trips to our hunting note and before and after photos of lease in west Texas, I would ask a few questions himself. He stated: “I used to be and he would open up and start talking. Since involved with Oflag 64 with Herb then I have wanted to find out more, I have Garris. The last reunion my wife and I attended purchased the video "Oflag 64 a POW Odyssey" was the one held in Kentucky a number of years and that has helped me put some pieces ago. Since then my eyesight has failed and I do together. not do much traveling. Herb keeps me informed After watching the video, I asked Charlie and I am able to read the “ITEM” with my closed about the "bird" that they had at the circuit TV.” Thanks, Robert, for your thoughtful camp. Charlie looked at me with a shocked look, and generous contribution to the Postage Fund it was like I had told a secret that I wasn't and for your kind words. The photos you sent supposed to talk about. Then the information are great. At some point in the future, we hope started flowing, he had told me the parts for the to have a “then and now” page on our website radio were shipped in the Red Cross parcels to photo gallery. We send our best to you and your POW's names that did not exist, so those family. Please write again. parcels were set aside. And once the parts were assembled they would take turns guarding the HERMAN “HERM” LITTMAN from building where it was housed. Spokane WA sent a donation to The information I have is his original the Postage Fund along with a handwritten account of the march from Poland, photo and short note saying “I am some electrical notes from a class (he said he also adding a photo of a medallion learned to be an electrician while a POW and he which was presented to me by the was an electrician for many years in Brenham commander of the Survival School at Fairchild TX), notes from a Spanish class, a few "Oflag AFB for ‘services rendered’. I feel quite honored Item", programs from the Little Theater (Room and am happy they think my talks helped their Service, Full Swing, The Man who Came to instructors.” He added that although there is Dinner), notes about the Red Cross parcels, little joy since his wife Lucy passed away, he notes about meal ideas, and a form filled out in finds some comfort watching his great German (I'm not sure if this is his release from grandchildren developing into musicians, ballet German hands), and I have a picture of Charlie dancers, little leaguers and good students, in group of men in Washington DC…. getting good grades in school. He sent his love Charlie is still living and was in relatively and hopes to be able to good health until a few weeks ago, he had major attend the next reunion. surgery (colon) that he is still trying to get over. Thanks, Herm, for Up until then he was still very active, still doing writing and for your farm work in his tractor and tending to his cattle thoughtful contribution even after two broken hips. He is in the nursing to the Postage Fund. home, is there any way you could send me the Congratulations on hardcopy of the ITEM? I'll make sure he gets receiving the medallion. it!!!!!” It’s beautiful and what a Thanks so much, Chris, for contacting us, and nice token of their welcome to our Oflag 64 family. Thanks also for appreciation! We look forward to seeing you in the information you have shared about your 7 grandfather-in-law. What a wonderful experience “Information Station” section of this ITEM. The you have had with him! We hope you have people in your area certainly have a wonderful many more as you learn more about his POW opportunity to learn more of the history of WWII experiences. Please keep in touch. through your museum. Please write again.
BEN MORTON from Houston TX (friend of the REGINA OLDFIELD from Westfield NJ late Kriegy Craig Campbell and a former Navy (daughter of the late John C. Oldfield) recently Officer/WWII and Korean War) recently found sent compliments on the work we do and also our website and wrote the following: “This is to commented “My dad was a POW at Oflag 64 thank all of those who set up and provided the and while I haven't been able to make contact information on this site. I later became a close with someone who knew him, my mother loves personal friend of Craig Campbell. We first met hearing the news.” Thanks, Regina, for writing in 1955 when we both were employed by the and for your kind words. Waiting to hear from Humble Oil & Refining Company (now part of someone who knew our loved ones is Exxon/Mobil) in Houston, Texas. We carpooled sometimes difficult, but from time to time we do together for about seven years when he filled us receive helpful information from a new Oflag 64 in on his experiences during WWII as an Aide de family member. We hope that happens for you. Camp to General Eisenhower and later as a Best wishes. Please keep in touch. POW in Poland….Craig retired to Lakeway, Texas, where he lived about 1/2 mile from my RICHARD B. PARKER from son. I last saw him in the late 1990s when I Washington D.C. recently wrote enjoyed lunch with Mary Frances and him. He with compliments on our Oflag 64 passed away in 2001, but I remember him fondly efforts. He also said that he as an outspoken--but true friend. A couple of wouldn’t be able to attend the Ft. weeks ago I mentioned some of his stories to Collins Reunion due to his wife’s poor health my son who then located this information on the and his need to be close to her. Thanks, Dick, internet.” Thanks so much, Ben, for writing and for writing and for your kind words. We will miss for sharing information about another one of our you at the reunion but understand the need to Kriegy heroes. We welcome you to our Oflag 64 stay close to home. Please write again. family and hope you’ll write again. DAVID PRESLEY (son of the late Kernal B. DALE NITZ from Port Orchard WA recently Presley) recently found our website and asked found our website and asked to be added to our to be added to our mailing list. He also would mailing list. He also shared the following like any information that people who knew his information: “I have an extensive collection of dad might be willing to share. (phone # 949-831- uniforms, papers, and photos from Oflag 64 7195) In reference to his dad, he stated: “My POW, James W. Lockett. I have one-of-a-kind father was captured in the Battle of the artifacts from this man's estate that were Bulge….Unfortunately, my Father died in 1973. purchased through a local dealer after his estate But, I have made a real effort to extract many sale had ended. I have had these on display in facts and info on him….The Dept. of the Army my museum on wheels for several years….I sent duplicates of all the medals he won...From have his escape maps and a photo of him and the Purple Heart, POW medal down to his three officers that he was with when the 44th Reserve duty medal. I was so proud to receive division picked them up in Germany. He was them. I did not ask for them...They were sent captured in the Hoertgen Forest Nov. 4, 1944 gratis.” Welcome to our Oflag 64 family, David, and was MIA until Jan. 31, 1945. He rejoined the and thanks for writing and sharing information allies April 2, 1945. The original army photo I about receiving duplicates of your dad’s medals. have is dated April 3, 1945. The 3 maps I have This is great information for others looking to do show the route of march from Oflag 64 and the the same thing. Members of our group are great route of escape from Hammelburg. Col Lockett at sharing information. We hope you’ll hear from lived in Tacoma WA and died Dec. 13, 1990.” some of them soon. Please write again. Thanks, Dale, for sharing this information. We have included the photos you sent in the
8 EDMON L. (TED) RINEHART from Russian army's push into Poland?” Since this Montgomery AL sent a donation to contact, Ed has corresponded with Bill Cory the Postage Fund along with a note regarding those days. Thanks, Ed, for and a copy of an obituary for Kriegy contacting us, and welcome to our Oflag 64 Enoch L. Northcutt. (Please see family. You’ll find a very helpful and friendly the TAPS Section for the group of people, always willing to share what obituary.) In Ted’s letter he asked if anyone they know. You’ve been added to our mailing has a “written record of Col. Van Vliet’s list and should receive future updates, queries, presentation about the Katyn Massacre which and information. Please write again. he gave at the Orlando FL meeting some 20 odd years ago.” If so, Ted would like a copy and is CHUCK SIKES (son of the late Julian M. Sikes) willing to pay for copies and postage. He has recently found our website, asked to be added to sent a request to Ray Towers Jr. at the address our mailing list, and corrected the misspelling of listed in our Publications Section for a copy of his dad’s name on our Oflag 64 database. It the Katyn Forest Video but has not received a was incorrectly listed as Julian M. Sikas but has one as of yet. Please let me (Elodie) know if now been updated. In a subsequent email you have either of these items and would be Chuck stated: “Our father passed away in willing to share. Thanks so much, Ted, for October of 1981. We knew he was a POW in writing and for your thoughtful and much WWII but he never talked about his experiences appreciated contribution to the Postage Fund. so we did not know much about it. When our We are in the process of tracking down mother passed away in 2006, we found a information on the Katyn Massacre. There is Whitman's sampler box with newspaper also some good information online at: clippings, Oflag 64 ID, and other assorted stuff. http://www.electronicmuseum.ca/Poland- From this information I was able to use the web WW2/katyn_memorial_wall/kmw_vanvliet.html to find out more. I know he was one of the 100 Hope to see you at the next reunion. Best or so Americans left at the camp when the wishes to you and your family. Russians liberated them in Jan of 1945. His feet had been badly frostbitten so he was with the JUDITH RING (niece of the late Louis group of infirmed. He was captured by the Gershenow) recently found our website and Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. It has thought she had identified her uncle in our been a very interesting journey in researching website gallery photos. However, upon closer the information and I thank you for your work on inspection, she was not able to make a positive the website.” Welcome, Chuck, to our Oflag 64 identification. If you have information to share or family and thanks sharing his information on photos that include Louis Gershenow, please your dad. We hope after reading this entry in send them to me (Elodie) and I will forward them the ITEM, that others may remember him and be on to Judith. Thanks, Judith, for writing and able to help fill in some of the gaps. Please welcome to our Oflag 64 family. We understand keep in touch. the frustration of trying to find people or things that just don’t seem to be there. Please keep us RENE TESAR (researching for a book to include posted on your search. the late Kriegy Otto Masny) recently found our website and is interested in obtaining the EDWARD L. ROBINSON (son of the late following information: when Otto arrived at Hervey H. Robinson) recently found our website Oflag 64, if he was liberated after the march to and asked to be added to our mailing list. Ed is Hammelburg or evacuated to Odessa. After the brother of Katherine Robinson Stevenson, searching our database, we found an arrival who contacted us last fall. In his email, Ed date and that Otto departed from Odessa. If commented: “I only wish I had found your site anyone has more specific information, perhaps long before my father's passing on 27 Nov 2008 relating to an escape from the long march, etc, (Thanksgiving morning). Would it be possible to please let me (Elodie) know. I will be glad to obtain the names of the other men who along forward the information along. Welcome, Rene, with my father were instrumental in digging and to our Oflag 64 family, and thanks for contacting occupying the tunnel at the point of the us. We hope the information you receive on German's hasty retreat in advance of the Otto will be of help to you in your search for 9 more specifics. Please keep us posted on what 6th in Belgium. He was on the march from one you learn. prisoner of war camp to another, a march of over 300 miles. He was sited for bravery for FRANK VAN LUNTEREN from dressing the wounds of a comrade under fire in Arnhem, The Netherlands (Dutch the Tunisian campaign. He served under Medal historian and History teacher, also of Honor recipient, then Captain Matt Urban, and a friend of Oflag 64) sent an old I would not be surprised if the wounds he photo of the 504th PIR. Shown in dressed were not those of Matt Urban although I the photo are a few of our do not know that for a fact. He was also deceased Kriegies such as Lou Otterbein, Bill awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Fabian, and Charles Kouns. The photo can be Star Medal for the meritorious ground combat found on our website on the LINKS page under against the armed enemy during the Sicily PHOTOS. Thanks, Frank, for the copy of the campaign in the Mediterranean Theater of photo. What a nice piece of history. Continued operations, while assigned as staff sergeant, best wishes to you on your book. Please update 60th Infantry Regiment, May 1944. His unit us on your progress from time to time. received Unit Citation, American Defense Ribbon, EAME Ribbon battlefield appointment to DONNIE WARREN (grandson of the late James 2nd Lt..…He would only tell of the humorous C. Nesbit) recently found our website and things that happened never about the gruesome contacted us hoping for information on his details.…I do believe he did say that he had to grandfather.
France and Central Europe and in North Africa If you would like to contribute, please make your where in the shade it was 120 degrees and his check payable to Oflag 64 Postage Fund and mail nose broke open and bled. He had received the your donation to:
Legion of Merit and later the Purple Heart for Bret Job or Elodie Caldwell wounds in the arm, shrapnel he told me in 4240 Trail Ridge Ln 2731 Terry Ave battle. He was a prisoner of war after capture Minnetonka MN Longview WA on the Meuse River. He had escaped and was 55345-2554 98632-4437 recaptured. He was taken prisoner September
10 INFORMATION STATION
The one photo I have of the POWs shows Lockett 4th from the left and the description of the photo names the 5 officers and the home towns. Your POW list only lists 3 of the 4 POWs in this photo. I know that they escaped in groups of three. The 4th POW may have been from another camp. My photos are not the best reproductions but the originals are crisp and clear. I have not seen Lockett's detailed maps on any website so far. I believe that these were part of his report to the I O with G2 and are original copies he obtained from the Army.
Submitted by Dale Nitz who purchased these items after Col. James Lockett’s estate sale ended.
11
Above photo: Group of POWs at repatriation center; 4 are from Oflag 64, all in rear row standing: Lt. Frank Maxwell (infantry), far right Lt. Higgins, (infantry), 4th from left Capt. Myrick Monroe (medic), 2nd from left Lt. Col. N. R. Hoskot (airborne), far left
Left photo: This has an interesting story. It was taken by a German Army photographer in late June, 1944 as Nathaniel Hoskot, captured June 7, 1944, was being interrogated by the Germans. It was published in the German Army magazine, UNSER HERR, and the caption translates roughly that Nathaniel is "arrogant, self-confident and says that the U.S., Great Britain and Russia will win the war and divide the world into three spheres of influence." Shortly after that he was clapped in solitary confinement for 3 weeks in Chalon-sur- Marne, France. The wild part about this photo (this is the original magazine clipping) is that Nathaniel’s cousin, Tiger Payne, FOUND this German-language magazine in German Headquarters in Cherbourg after the US had routed the Germans. He was just leafing through it, and bam -there was Nathaniel! What a coincidence and surprise!
Photos and explanations submitted by Anne Kreutzer, daughter of the late Kriegy, Nathaniel R. Hoskot 12
Prisoner 1573 World War II veteran recounts his time as a German POW and the covert government plan to free him.
Photos and Story By Aaron Stern/The Connection Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wilbur Blaine "Bill" Sharpe was Prisoner 1573 when he was held by the Germans during World War II at Oflag 64, a prison camp for commissioned officers. Now an Ashburn resident, Sharpe will be featured in an upcoming television documentary about a covert U.S. government operation that smuggled equipment into such camps to help POWs plan and execute escapes.
The edge of the German POW camp Oflag 64 was a place of constant activity from the summer of 1943 into the winter of 1945. One building served as a makeshift chapel for the American military officers interred at the camp by the German army, and another building was the site of constant rehearsals for a ragtag theater company. Nearby a ball field buzzed with imprisoned officers trying to outhit and outpitch one another in spirited baseball games cheered on by their comrades-in-arms. It was there, along the sidelines of those games, that perhaps the Germans would have noticed what was going on. Those onlookers. They cheered vigorously, yet if one looked closer it might have been seen that their pantlegs, curiously plump as they approached the field, were loose against their gaunt bodies as they turned and walked away from the dusty field. They walked to the nearby latrine and when they walked back to the ball field their pants again bulged ever so slightly. Wilbur "Bill" Sharpe often was one of those onlookers. Inside their trousers were false pantlegs of burlap, closed at the bottom with a string, and stuffed with the dirt dug from a secret tunnel that led from beneath the latrine towards the perimeter fence of Oflag 64. Sharpe and others would cheer their baseball-playing mates, jump up and down, and surreptitiously loose the strings at the bottom of their pants and shake their legs empty of dirt onto the ratty field. "Six or eight guys can move an awful lot of dirt in a short time that way," Sharpe said. SHARPE SPENT 19 months at Oflag 64 in Schubin, Poland. Captured in North Africa with the other members of the U.S. Army’s 17th Field Artillery Battalion on Valentine’s Day, 1943 at the Faid Pass, Battle of Kasserine, 2nd Lieutenant Sharpe and his fellow soldiers were able to destroy their weapons before being taken by the forces of the so-called "Desert Fox," legendary German General Erwin Rommel. "He got us. We were captured by the best," said Sharpe. "He was a genius." They were transported briefly to a POW camp filled with British officers captured at the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk, then to Oflag 64, a camp for commissioned officers that, by the standards set forth by the Geneva Conventions, was far less brutal than POW camps for enlisted men. The officers there were not permitted to perform manual labor and they had books to read. They had enough musical instruments to form a 16-piece band, enough equipment for their baseball games, and through agreements between the Red Cross and the YMCA, officers at such camps were able to send and receive mail from home, said Sharpe. They didn’t eat much — meals consisted of watery soup and sour bread and by the time he was liberated Sharpe weighed just 96 lbs., far shy of the 150 lbs. he
13 was captured with — but care packages from the Red Cross rationed between bunkmates to make them last longer got them through. "If it weren’t for the Red Cross I wouldn’t be here today," Sharpe said. It was one of those letters from home that tipped off Sharpe that something was afoot at Oflag 64. The letter came from a supposed relative who shared Sharpe’s last name that Sharpe had never met or even heard of. The letter, it turned out, wasn’t for Sharpe at all, but for one of the higher-ranking imprisoned officers, and it wasn’t from a long lost relative either. It was from a covert government operation called MIS-X. According to correspondence between Sharpe and the producer of an upcoming National Geographic Channel documentary, MIS-X was an ultra-secretive U.S. Intelligence subgroup that funneled information and equipment to the prisoners of the German POW camps to aid in their potential escapes. What Sharpe knows is that indeed some packages did contain hidden equipment. The handle of a hairbrush, for instance, could contain compass needles, maps, and German currency. The correspondence between Sharpe and the National Geographic producer alludes to guns that were obtained by the upper echelon officers held at Oflag 64 but Sharpe said that neither from his personal knowledge nor through conversations with the scant remaining survivors that he has kept in touch with can he verify that that ever took place. What he does know is that through the combined efforts of MIS-X — the existence of which Sharpe said was not declassified until within the last five years — and the covert operations of the imprisoned Americans, escape from Oflag 64 loomed within grasp but was never attained. Sharpe, just 20 at the time he was captured, was not in the loop of sensitive information or escape plans but he said that only one attempt at escape was ever made. The few who made it under the fence were soon recaptured by the Germans and spent 45 days in solitary confinement, giving pause to future escape plans. Yet the Germans still did not detect the tunnel, Sharpe said. They did not find its entrance in the deep pit below the toilets. They did not find the missing slats of bed frames that supported the tunnel, nor did they notice missing mattresses whose burlap covers were torn and sewn into the clandestine dirt carrying tubes. "They even came to our [theater] programs and we were digging right under them at the time," said Sharpe. OTHER ATTEMPTS to escape were planned but never executed. Then, in January of 1945 with the Russian military bearing down on the German occupation Sharpe and his comrades were marched out of Oflag 64 by the retreating Germans. They marched for eight days through the snow-covered country side, bedding at night in abandoned barns, sleeping against one another for warmth. On the morning of the ninth day, Sharpe and two of his fellow officers didn’t report for rollcall to march, hiding out instead in the haymow they had slept in the night before. The Russians were advancing too quickly for the Germans to search for them and left without the three soldiers. Upon meeting with the Russian forces Sharpe and company were not immediately transferred to American forces. Instead, said Sharpe, they were stripped of their belongings and forced into service with the Russian infantry. Sharpe supposes that what he saw in that next month is not indicative of Russians today, but still he holds a grudge. He witnessed German civilians killed and raped, their homes looted by Russian soldiers as they advanced towards Berlin. "They were miserable people," Sharpe said of the Russians. Eventually Sharpe and his friends stole a Russian Jeep and made it to the rear of the Russian ranks where they found sympathetic officers and were eventually transferred back to American hands. AFTER THE WAR Sharpe returned to his native Indiana where he met and married his wife, Mary. He remained in the Army Reserve then returned to action in the Korean War, where he said he fired the first combat salvo of the conflict from his 8-inch Howitzer battery. He returned home in 1952 after six months of service. Sharpe then left the Army with the rank of Captain and spent the next 50 years working in retail. He and Mary moved to the Washington, D.C. area and Sharpe went to work for Kay Jewelers before opening up new stores for the expanding Woodward & Lothrop department chain as it grew through
14 Maryland and Virginia. He retired, finally, in 2001 after working first for Burberry, opening their first D.C. store, and then Charles Schwartz & Son Jewelers. "His fuse was getting short," said Mary Sharpe as they sat in their new condo at the Ashby Ponds Retirement Living Facility in Ashburn earlier this week. They moved there from Bethesda, Md. late last year after selling the home they had lived in for 48 years. While Bill Sharpe was out doing the retail work, Mary stayed at home raising their daughter and keeping the home front running smoothly. "She did all the hard work," Sharpe said. These days Bill Sharpe keeps in touch with a few remaining from his time in Oflag 64, the memories of which were stirred last November when he was interviewed for the National Geographic special which is slated to air at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 2. But there aren’t many of his old friends from the 17th left, a hard truth that Sharpe, now 87, acknowledged with a small catch in his voice. "We lose a lot of them every year," he said.
After nearly two years as a German POW in World War II Bill Sharpe served as an artillery officer in the Korean War before returning home and working in retail for the next 50 years. He and his wife of 63 years, Mary Sharpe, now live in the Ashby Ponds Retirement Living facility in Ashburn.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=330846&paper=83&cat=104
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Reflections of Robert Galloway, son-in-law of Pat Waters
…..Speaking of Bill Warthen, a Citadel graduate and one of the smartest men I've met over the years, I miss him. Mr. Warthen shared with me some of his prize collections including the late Clarence Meltesen's amazing chronicle of the men of the camp. I was on an ESPN shoot in Canada and as I passed through customs and walked into Calgary, my eyes opened wide. I had left this book on the baggage buggy. Have you ever tried to go back in to Customs once you're out? It is pretty much impossible. But I wasn't leaving until I found that book! And I did. Tonight I am reminded of these Oflag images, shared with me by many who have died, others who still salute their country each morning. Bill Warthen, also recalled the man who traded his loaf of bread for a pair of boots on the march. As the late journalist, Frank Diggs told me during our work on "Oflag 64, A POW Odyssey," it was a different kind of America then. Rod Peeples, remembering Lt. Colonel Waters leading the men into the march each morning, "Forward.....Ho." Joe Ainsworth, who thought he was going to perish on the march, but his friends put a blanket on him, and warmed him with courage. George Juskalian who watched a German guard step on a copy of "Mein Kampf" 15 Don Lussenden, who used his talents in the camp to repair books for their library. Irv Yarock, who described then tunnel that could have brought the group to freedom, or to the same fate as the men of Stalag 17. Herb Garris who so calmly spoke of what goes through the mind when one is faced with a gun pointing directly at him, as close as he could be to death. Lewis Lowe, who seemed even when I talked to him to still taste the cabbage soup, and it wasn't a good taste, but it was better than nothing. Ed Graf remembered how awful it was to be paraded through the streets of Paris as POWs while people spit on them. Cheerful Charlie Cheatham who described how the men made make-shift sleds for their march. Albert Cecil could not have described in better detail how he hid in a farmhouse in France, hoping the German soldier entering would not see him. Roy Chappell and I talked for hours about his two escapes. He drew maps and pictures, and I listened and tried to imagine the fear and bravery. Curtis Jones made me laugh when he told me about Abe Baum's tanks rolling into Hammelburg. He said, "I got under the bed.. under the bed.. I figured better to be a live coward than a dead hero." But it wasn't funny really. Coward? A man who marched 300kms in the dead of winter and remembers marching into Hammelburg, with his fellow comrades and their heads held high? Jim Bickers, he could not help but honor Col. Drake for telling Oberst Schneider to stop sending dogs through their barracks. The dogs would defecate on the floor. "Would you want your men to have dogs defecate on their floor?" That's all it took to stop the dogs. Ed Batte still carries a $2 dollar bill, as he did while at Oflag 64. Why? It brought him good luck still, years after Oflag 64. Royal Lee amazed me with how he helped smuggle packages into and out of camp. John Creech used his education in horticulture to nourish the men, planting a garden. Bob Thompson recalls standing in a line waiting to be shot by his German captors. Afterwards, still alive, he said, "why didn't they shoot us?" An American soldier who understood German told him, "because we didn't shoot at them." Don Waful played in the band and acted in the plays to provide some calm in a storm of fear. Ted Rinehart could not say enough about the respect they had for my father-in-law's dad.. We called them heroes. "No, Robert, we're survivors; the heroes are buried over there," Walt Heisler quietly said to me. Pat Waters and I stood quietly along a stretch of highway that his father and the so many others had marched. I will never forget Pat gazing over at me and saying, "can you imagine what it would be like not to know where you were marching and if the end was life or death?" To every single man who served behind the barbed wire in Szubin, Poland, thank you for opening up to us in your days, because it gives us a measurement of ourselves, of hope, and of our responsibility to teach our children about freedom. Thanks very much Robert. So beautifully written and so heartfelt.
16 ITEM COMMENTS
Let us know how we are doing. Constructive comments and criticisms THANK are welcomed and appreciated. Here are some nice comments from YOU! some nice folks.
Thanks for the newsletter. I enjoy it. ~ Jim Bates, Brentwood TN
The Oflag Item publication was OUTSTANDING!! I think if was the most informational of any you have printed. Thank you so much. ~ Helen Chappell, Kaufman TX
Just want to say I think it is wonderful that you “young-uns” want to keep the reunions and the Item going. And you are doing a wonderful job. ~ Oretta Hamblin, Lawton OK
How does one continue to surpass what has already reached superlative. I must confess I don’t know, but you do in each successive issue of the ITEM. You have done it again with the 2009 Summer edition….Let me extend my heartfelt thanks to you, Elodie, and your colleagues for assuming the no- small-task of continuing the Post Oflag 64 Item in such a professional and endearing manner. I look forward eagerly to each issue and take pride in showing it to other veterans and interested neighbors and friends. ~ George Juskalian, Centreville VA
OFLAG 64 WEB CONNECTION
New to the Oflag 64 Family Michael Carlyle – Original producer of the musical “I’ll Be Seeing You” Martha Curtis Hoover – Daughter of the late Warren T. Curtis Michael Gibson – Son of the late Harold L. Gibson Thomas Gibson – Son of the late Harold L. Gibson Chris McCain – Grandson-in-law of Charlie Buerger Ben Morton – Friend of the late Craig Campbell Dale Nitz – Museum on Wheels featuring Oflag 64 Memorabilia David Presley – Son of the late Kernal B. Presley Judith Ring – Niece of the late Louis Gershenow Edward Robinson – Son of the late Hervey H. Robinson Karen Rossi – Great niece of the late Thomas D. Drake Chuck Sikes – Son of the late Julian M. Sikes Rene Tesar – Researcher for a book to include the late Otto Masny Donnie Warren – Grandson of the late James C. Nesbit Pam Wheeler Waters – Daughter of the late Bertram A. Wheeler
You and yours are to be congratulated on an outstanding web site. The audio portion brought tears to my eyes. You have done a wonderful service to the POWs of Oflag 64 and their families. ~ Eleanor Bertrand, Baton Rouge LA
This is to thank all of those who set up and provided the information on this site. ~ Ben Morton, Houston TX
It has been a very interesting journey in researching the information and I thank you for your work on the website. ~ Chuck Sikes
Thanks for your site and the many sacrifices that were made by those it honors. ~ Donnie Warren
17 PUBLICATIONS
The following publications might be of interest to you. Many of them were written by our men. Your local library is a good place to check for availability. If you can’t find what you’re looking for there, write to the author or publisher or click on the links below.
1. Americans Behind the Barbed Wire by Frank Diggs, Story of Frank’s trip across Russia in 1945. Publisher: Vandemere Press, P. O. Box 5243, Clearwater FL 22205 (New price is $24.95/Hardcover) http://www.vandamere.com/diggs.htm or http://www.amazon.ca/Americans-Behind-Barbed-Wire- Inside/dp/0743474821
2. Diary of A Kriegie by Ed Beattie. Diary of Ed Beattie, A UPI Correspondent captured near the Moselle River in Sept ’44. Publisher: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York NY http://www.amazon.com/Diary- kriegie-Edward-W-Beattie/dp/B0007E4AUA
3. Escape to Russia by Howard “BOOMER” Holder. Story of Boomer Holder as he went across Russia in 1945. Publisher: Iberian Publishing Co., Athens GA http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Russia-Howard- Randolph-Holder/dp/B0006F7X72/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226549191&sr=1-1
4. Home Was Never Like This. Diary of Col Yardley. Publisher: Yardley Enterprises. Evergreen, CO. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=HOME+WAS+never+like+this&x=0&y=0
5. Justifiable Pride by William D. Stevens, Jamal Books, 2340 Devoe Drive, Lincoln NE 68506, 402-488- 6005 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=Justifiable+Pride&x=13&y=17
6. Katyn Forest Video (Beta or VHS). Ray Towers, Jr., 25105 Vista Greens Court, Hayward CA 94541, 415-582-4871
7. Kriegie by Kenneth Simmons. Diary of an Air Force Pilot. Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons. New York NY. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=Kriegie+by+Kenneth+Simmons&x=0&y=0
8. Kriegsgefangenen (Prisoner of War) by Clarence Ferguson. Publisher: Texan Press, Waco TX http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=Prisoner+of+War+by+Clarence+Ferguson&x=16&y=17
9. OFLAG 64, 50th Anniversary Book. Anniversary Committee. Publisher: Evanston Publishing Co., Evanston IL. http://www.amazon.com/Oflag-64-fiftieth-anniversary- book/dp/1879260239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1226550698&sr=1-1
10. Passages to Freedom, Joseph Frelinghuysen, 1990, Publisher: Sunflower University Press, 1531 Yuma (Box 1009), Manhattan KS 66502-4228, 800-258-1232 ($17.95, includes S & H) http://www.amazon.com/Passages-Freedom-Story-Capture- Escape/dp/0897451317/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226550856&sr=1-1
11. Oflag 64: A P.O.W. Odyssey, DVD, Robert Galloway Media, LLC; 900 Johnnie Dodds Boulevard, Suite 108; Mount Pleasant SC 29464 ($29.95 plus $5 S&H - Please make checks payable to Robert Galloway Media, LLC)
12. A Ramble Through My War by Charles T. Marshall, Publisher: Louisiana State University Press, 1999. ($29.95) http://www.amazon.com/Ramble-Through-My-War- Anzio/dp/0807126365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226550977&sr=1-1
13. The Escape Factory by Lloyd Shoemaker. Story of a secret organization in Wash DC that maintained contact with all POWs in WWII. St Martins Press. New York NY (A few are available on Amazon.com) http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Factory-Story-Mis- X/dp/0312925727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226551149&sr=1-1
18 14. The Water and The Rock by Charles Jones. Diary of a man captured in Africa. Publisher: Anchor Publishing Co., Northwood, IA http://www.amazon.com/Water-Rock-Charles-L- Jones/dp/B000IXSZHO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226551381&sr=1-1
15. The Welcome Swede by Frank Diggs. Publisher: Vantage Press, New York, NY ($11.00) http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Swede-Thousands-Germanys- Prisoners/dp/0533078180/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226551448&sr=1-1
16. 33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III by Albert P. Clark. Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing, 16100 Table Mountain Parkway, Suite 300, Golden CO 80403, 800-992-2908 (17.95 pb) http://www.amazon.com/Months-POW-Stalag-Luft- III/dp/1555915361/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226551497&sr=1-1
17. Tours of Duty: World War II Veterans Personal Stories by Eleanor Bertrand. Includes stories of Jimmie Kanaya and Martin Jones from Oflag 64 and Oscar Richard from Stalag I. Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (2/22/08). $17.99 from Amazon.com, 1-800-201-7575 http://www.amazon.com/Tours-Duty-Veterans-Personal- Stories/dp/141968728X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226551561&sr=1-1
Other Publications
NEW INFORMATION: The publications listed immediately below are out of print but the online versions can now be accessed by logging onto our website at www.oflag64.org. Click on the Looking for Lost Men link at the lower left of the Database page to find the rosters (in a large pdf file, several pages long).
Hammelburg Roster POW Database My Grand Tour of Russia Archives/POW Stories/Escape To Russia Original Roster-Oflag 64 POW Database The Men of Oflag 64 POW Database The Oflag 64 Directory POW Database Tribute to TF Baum Archives/POW Stories/All Those Brave Young Men
WRITE DIRECTLY TO THESE CONTACTS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
My Tour of Russia by Herb Garris, P. O. Box 1693, Pinehurst NC 28370-1693
Press Releases by Ted Roggen, 101 Westcott, Houston TX 77007 ($10.95)
Vic Kanners Diary. - NO CHARGE (Will be arranging for a new contact person ASAP)
Raid. The story of the Task Force Baum raid on the Hammelburg POW Camp. Publisher: Dell Publishing Co. (A few copies are available at $8 each through our organization. Please make checks payable to the Oflag 64 Postage Fund c/o Elodie Caldwell.)
Roads to Liberation by Clarence R. Meltesen is available free of charge except for a $5 per copy shipping fee. Please contact: Lynne Meltesen 12163 West Exposition Drive Lakewood CO 80228-3300 Phone: 303-987-1833 Email: [email protected]
The Waters Story. Contact Pat Waters, 412 Rice Hope Drive, Mt. Pleasant SC 29464-9273
A 1947 Oflag 64 Reunion Photo is available for a $5 donation to the Postage Fund. Send your donation and request to Elodie Caldwell.
19 TAPS
Errol P. Johnson Errol Johnson’s obituaries were printed in the Kentucky Standard, The Courier-Journal, 1919 – 2009 and the Lexington Herald-Leader on 7/4/09
Errol Paul Johnson II, 89, New Haven, died Thursday, July 2, Robert M. Langley "Bob" 2009, at Sunrise Manor Nursing Home, Hodgenville. 1919 - 2009 He was born Nov. 19, 1919, in New Haven to the late Bob, a native of Alabama, was born in Camp Hill Patrick Dean and Rose Ellen near Auburn, graduated from high school in Roberts Johnson. He was a member of St. Alexander City, and received a degree in Catherine of Alexandria Catholic chemical engineering from Auburn University in Church, New Haven. He was a the class of 1941. He was a prisoner of war in second lieutenant in the U.S. Army World War II. Captured in North in World War II and a prisoner of Africa in February 1943, he war. He was owner and manager of escaped from a German prison Sherwood Inn with his wife for many years, camp in Poland in February 1945. former mayor of New Haven and fire chief. He remained in the Army Reserves, He was preceded in death by two retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He was brothers, Patrick Dean “P.D.” Johnson and preceded in death by his wife, Janis Warren Clarence Johnson; and a sister, Ann Johnson Langley, in December 2005. Dawson. He is survived by his sons, Warren and wife Ann Survivors include his wife of 64 years, Tonkin Langley, and Michael and wife Evelyn; Cecilia Marie Boone Johnson, New Haven; four granddaughters, Anne Langley and Kasey sons, Mark Johnson and Mike Johnson, New Langley and husband Nathan Grothe; and great- Haven, Kenny Johnson, Bardstown, and Dennis grandchildren, Jonathan Langley Grothe and Johnson, Lexington; two daughters, Betty Errol Eleanor Langley Grothe. Conkling, Louisville, and Mary Ann “Annie” Fox, Bob and Janis lived in Huntsville for over 50 Harlan; his twin sister, Betty Dorsey, Loretto years and enjoyed their many friends from Bob's Mother House, Nerinx; 20 grandchildren; 17 work at Thiokol Chemical Corp. and Janis' active great-grandchildren; and several nieces, engagement in the community and the nephews, cousins and friends. Episcopal Church. He lived in Redstone Village, The Mass of Christian burial is 11 a.m. a retirement community in Huntsville, after Janis' Monday at St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic death and appreciated the love and support that Church with the reverends Mark Keene, Mark the Redstone community gave to him and his Hamilton, Mike Tobin and Ken Fortner dog, Lilly Belle. We especially remember Mr. officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery Bob, as Janis called him, and Dink, as his sons with full military rites. and granddaughters called him, for his wry Visitation is 2-8 p.m. today at William R. sense of humor, steadfastness, sense of Rust Funeral Home, New Haven, with a prayer fairness, and commitment to a high standard of service at 7 p.m. in the funeral home chapel; values, and the love he received and gave to us, and 9 a.m. until time of service his children, his grandchildren, his great- Monday.Donations may be made to Sunrise grandchildren, and his friends. We will all miss Manor Nursing Home in memory of Errol him. Johnson, 80 Phillips Lane, Hodgenville, KY In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory 42748; or St. Catherine School Fund, 413 First can be made to the Greater Huntsville Humane St., New Haven, KY 40051. Society, 2812 Johnson Road, Huntsville, AL William R. Rust Funeral Home, New 35805, or the charity of your choice. Haven, was in charge of arrangements. A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 18 at Ridley Hall, Church of the 20 Nativity Episcopal, 208 Eustis Ave. S.E., Compton (Carleton) of Tampa, FL, Mary Kathryn Huntsville, AL 35801. Laughlin Service Funeral Cunningham of Josephine, AL, Jennifer N. Home is assisting the family. Bedsole (Mark), Mary L. Northcutt, Brittany L. Northcutt, Ashleigh E. Holifield and Emily K. Published in The Huntsville Times on Holifield, all of Demopolis, AL; three great 5/3/2009 grandchildren, John David and Thomas Bedsole of Demopolis, Al. and Kathryn Mitchell Compton of Tampa, FL. Pallbearers will be his nephews: Enoch L.Northcutt, Jr. Roy Harper, Jr., Jeff Nutter, Jack Nutter, Ben 1921 - 2009 Northcutt, Eric Northcutt, Russ Guyton, Reid Northcutt, Harrison Northcutt, David Northcutt and Glenn Northcutt. The family will receive NORTHCUTT, ENOCH L. JR., friends at his home for nearly 50 years at 410 87 years, died Friday July 17, Rembert Street, Demopolis, Al Monday, July 20, 2009 after a brief hospitalization 2009 between 5 and 8 p.m.. Funeral services for a hip fracture sustained in a will be at Trinity Episcopal Church, Demopolis fall at his home in Demopolis, Tuesday July 21, 2009 at 11 a.m. with interment Alabama. He was preceded in following the service at St. Andrew's Episcopal death by his wife Mary Lloyd Northcutt, his Church, Prairieville, Ala. The family wishes to parents Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Northcutt, and five of thank the staff at Byran Whitfield Memorial his siblings: Walter G. Northcutt, Leona N. Hospital and Helping Hands of Alabama for Harper, Mildred N. Nutter, Barbara N. Guyton, supportive care. Memorials may be directed to and William B. Northcutt. He is survived by three Trinity Episcopal Church or St. Andrew's children: Kathryn N Cunningham (Billy) of Episcopal Church Preservation Fund, PO Box Josephine AL, John E. Northcutt (Nancy) and 560, Demopolis, Alabama 36732 or a memorial Angela N. Holifield (her late husband, Dr. Reese of choice Holifield), of Demopolis and brother, James N. Northcutt of Gadsden, AL. Mr. Northcutt was Published in The Birmingham News, the born August 9, 1921 in Evergreen, Alabama. He Press-Register, the Tuscaloosa News, and served in the US Army in Europe as an infantry the Montgomery Advertiser on 7/19/2009 officer in US Army service with the 28th Infantry Division, remarkable for receipt of two purple hearts and being a POW at Oflag 64 in Poland. He, with three others , made an escape via the Black Sea, Egypt, Italy, and back to Great Britain. Most important to him from his WWII years was his war bride of 61years, Mary from Wales. He was a graduate of Bessemer High School, Birmingham Southern College and the University of Alabama School of Law. He retired from Vanity Fair after 35 years having served as plant manager in Butler, Jackson and Demopolis. He was active in the Demopolis Rotary Club where he was Director of its Crippled Children's Golf Tournament and recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship Award, served as Senior Warden of Trinity Episcopal Church, and served on the Demopolis City School Board. He was remembered as quite an accomplished fast-pitch softball pitcher in games with KA fraternity to local Demopolis leagues. Golf, fishing, reading and listening to big band music were important pastimes. He is also survived by eight granddaughters: Elizabeth C. Thomas (Shawn) of Missoula, Mt., Anne C. 21 An Oflag 64 POW Burial at Arlington National Cemetery
5/7/09 - I was honored to attend Nick Rahal's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday. As are all funerals there, it was so respectful, beautiful and moving. One thing I have never seen before, and was not present at my dad's funeral, was a soldier holding a black POW flag. This soldier followed Nick's caisson the whole way on the procession, and was never far from his casket as it was moved to the burial site and then during the service- it was quite moving. Gail, Nick’s wife, said she had not requested it, but I think we all got a lump in our throats when we first saw it.
(Submitted by Anne Kreutzer, daughter of the late Kriegy Nathaniel R. Hoskot)
* * * * * * More Mail Call
KAREN ROSSI from Panama City Beach FL at 850-230-6565. Thanks, Karen, for contacting (great niece of the late Thomas D Drake) us, and welcome to our Oflag 64 family. You will recently found our website and is asking for find our members very ready and willing to share information about her great uncle. If you have information. We would love to see you at an information to share, please contact Karen by Oflag 64 reunion in the future. Please let us email at [email protected] or by phone hear from you again. 22